The journey begins

The next morning, the two women decided where to go over breakfast, where Ria passed the decision onto Cielo, saying she could play her music anywhere. When Cielo, thinking about the two posters in her pockets, suggested going east, Ria’s face seemed to go through a thousand emotions at once: anger, sadness, betrayal and … fear? But it passed as quickly as it had come, replaced by that friendly mask that wouldn’t reach the elf’s eyes.

Cielo grinned. That’s the honourable Aeria for you. The assassin had known she wouldn’t make a fuss, especially after saying she should pick a direction.

Later, when they went to saddle their horses, Ria let out an excited squeak at the sight of the grey horse, taken aback by its beauty. Cielo, scratching her horse’s snout, explained she was an old lady already, almost as old as her. Ria raised an eyebrow, swinging onto the back of her own horse, only to inhale in surprise when she found out the blonde was only a young twento-two years old, in opposition to her own twenty-seven years.

And so, the two women left off, riding side by side peacefully. So, naturally, they began to talk once more, which meant Ria spoke while Cielo listened. But the assassin didn’t mind at all, quite the opposite. She loved hearing about Ria’s travels across the land, how she slowly made a name for herself as a musician with time and patience. And how she was now known throughout the land, able to live off her passion.

“Playing multiple instruments since childhood has helped, of course”, she joked, when asked about where she had earned to play the lyre.

The blonde already knew all this, but she couldn’t let the facade crumble. But she smiled when Ria talked about why she loved travelling so much.

“So many different people, obligations to absolutely no one and just go where the wind takes you. What could be better than this?”

That was something the two women could agree on.

They rose until dawn, with small breaks for their horses of course, when Ria asked if Cielo knew any cities nearby, earning a confused look from her companion. To find a place to sleep, the elf explained, making the assassin laugh as Cielo asked if the other always planned her trips to be in a city at night.

A slight blush formed on Ria’s cheeks as she admitted that was exactly what she did because of all the wild animals. “I’m a heavy sleeper and wouldn’t want to be eaten alive by a wolf or something.”

Cielo understood the reason being the other woman’s thoughts, but couldn’t imagine the stress of planning her routes according to which cities she could reach within a day. “You’ve been missing out on some interesting paths then. Tonight we’ll need to camp outside. The next city is almost half a day away. Do you have any equipment to sleep in the woods?”

Ria nodded. It wasn’t the best, but she at least had something.